Apple admits that there’s some truth to the old conspiracy theory that it purposefully slows down old iPhone models, and explains why it chooses to do this.
When Apple announced the iPhone 8 and the expensive iPhone X a few months ago, many iPhone owners joked that their current phones would suddenly stop working. While that particular conspiracy theory is a bit exaggerated, we now know definitively that Apple does slow down its older iPhones, but for a reason that may actually be beneficial to the user in the long run.
According to Apple, it introduced a feature starting with the iPhone 6 line of phones that is meant to prevent unexpected shutdowns. Apparently, as lithium-ion batteries age, they can make devices completely unusable if they continue to run at the performance they did owners bought them at launch. By slowing down the performance of its older phone models, Apple avoids the PR disaster that would come about from iPhones the world over ceasing to function.
While Apple’s reasoning makes sense, some consumers may simply not believe what the company is saying. Some smartphone users may take this as proof that Apple purposefully slows down old phones as a way to convince consumers to run out and buy the newest model, especially since this is the first time the company has admitted it.
And the only reason Apple has come forward with this information is due to research done by The Verge as well as Reddit users that proved iPhones were performing worse after certain software updates. So even if Apple’s reasoning is accurate, the company looks suspicious by not being upfront and transparent about this particular feature.
Apple may look somewhat suspicious in this instance, but there’s one big reason why it’s easy to believe it isn’t slowing down old iPhones in an attempt to push consumers to buy its new products. And that reason is consumers don’t really need pushed to buy new Apple products. Apple has built an extremely loyal fanbase that will buy its newest product without question. Even when iPhone sales are down, they are still some of the most popular smartphones on the market.
Moving forward, it will be interesting to see how consumers react to this revelation, and if it leads to Apple becoming more transparent with its fans.
